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Andrew Krech / The Citizens' Voice
The occupants of 351 N. Washington St. in Wilkes-Barre - Tamika Harley Johnson, William Johnson and Lamika Evans - have all applied to the county for a public defender.

The young grandmother of the 2-month-old boy beaten to death Sunday in Wilkes-Barre spent time in jail three years ago for beating another child in her care, court records show.

Tamika Harley Johnson, who has applied for a public defender in the current case, pleaded guilty to simple assault and endangering the welfare of children in January 2010 after she severely injured a 2-year-old boy because he urinated on the floor.

The boy killed Sunday, Antonio Evans, had "raccoon eyes" indicative of physical trauma and severe bruising on his buttocks at the time of his death, according to a search warrant application filed in court this week.

Doctors at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital pronounced Evans dead Sunday night despite "heroic efforts" to resuscitate Evans, according to a probable cause affidavit prepared in support of the warrant application. An autopsy Monday determined the boy's manner of death was a homicide, police said.

Court documents this week indicated Johnson, 32, and two other residents of 351 N. Washington St. - Johnson's 49-year-old husband, William Johnson; and her daughter Lamika Evans - have applied for representation by the Luzerne County Public Defender's Office.

A joint petition asking for separate, court-appointed counsel, said the Johnsons' interests may conflict with Evans' interests.

Wilkes-Barre medics were called to the North Washington Street home around 8:20 a.m. Sunday for a report of a baby not breathing and turning blue, according to the search warrant application.

Medics found the unconscious and unresponsive child lying on a table. While they tried to treat the infant, family members created a scene that was "chaotic and potentially dangerous," the warrant application said.

Doctors at Wilkes-Barre General noticed several areas of concern, including "raccoon eyes" - bruising under the eyes, with the left more severely injured - a bruise to his upper lip and a deep bruise covering most of his buttocks, the warrant application said.

Prosecutors said the family offered no explanation for the injuries. Because he was born Aug. 4, the warrant application said, Antonio was still immobile and it was "highly unlikely" the injuries could have been "self-inflicted."

Luzerne County Coroner Bill Lisman demurred, saying the injuries were the result of child abuse, according to the warrant application.

Investigators said they were seeking evidence including bedding, clothing and other items that may have been used on or for Antonio, as well as medications and garbage.

Attempts to contact the Johnsons were unsuccessful and there was no answer Wednesday at the door of their North Washington Street home.

Neighbors said they sometimes heard fighting from the home. They said several children lived in the home, where trick-or-treat paper hung from the front door Wednesday, and "The Little Mermaid" curtains guarded the windows of a side room.

The morning of Evans' death, neighbors reported seeing two women emerge from the home in hysterics and banging on the ambulance as medics tried to revive the child.

"The two girls were pounding. The ambulance driver told them to stop already - they were trying to work in the ambulance with the baby," neighbor Joan Hughes, 46, said. "It's just a shame that it had to happen to a baby. If they didn't want the baby, they should have just gave it up for adoption."

Hughes said the county's Children and Youth Services office removed the remaining children from the home Monday afternoon.

After her January 2010 guilty plea, a judge ordered Johnson not to have unsupervised contact with minors, court records show.

She and William Johnson, whom she married in April, were baby-sitting a 2-year-old boy in July 2009 when Tamika Johnson pushed him to the ground because he urinated on the floor and was acting "out of control." The boy suffered bleeding on the brain, cuts to his face, a broken rib and other internal injuries, according to police.

The boy survived after days of intensive treatment at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and The Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, court records show.

Judge David W. Lupas sentenced Johnson to 1½ to three years in prison, but allowed her to join a work release program, court records show. She was removed from work-release in January 2011 because of a tobacco violation but won reinstatement to the program in April 2012, records show. She reached the maximum end of her sentence in February.

Children and Youth Services became involved with the family after the July 2009 incident, requiring Tamika Johnson to undergo drug and alcohol treatment, a mental health evaluation and parenting education to "enhance her parenting skills and learn more appropriate and effective methods of discipline." She was also required to take anger management training to "learn better coping skills," court records show.

Children and Youth Services reported in a letter to the sentencing judge that Tamika Johnson had been cooperative with its agents and that the agency had "no concerns" about the three children she had with William Johnson, ages 4 to 8, during the assessment period.

jhalpin@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2058, @cvjimhalpin

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